


Across the Starry Sea

by MiriamKenneath



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aliens, M/M, Space Opera, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25415341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriamKenneath/pseuds/MiriamKenneath
Summary: Your name is Niesh, and you are a sailor. You know Allair will wait for you for as long as it takes, for he is your chosen mate, and the men of Tiellys always mate for life.
Relationships: Returning Sailor Thought Lost at Sea/His Mourning Husband
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12
Collections: Rare Male Slash Exchange 2020





	Across the Starry Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soarc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soarc/gifts).



The indigo cliffs of Tiellyan sit against the shores of the Starry Sea. You image him there, limbs outspread and soaring gracefully upon the methane thermals. He is watching the sky, imaging you, and he waits patiently for you to return to him.

Your name is Niesh, and you are a sailor. You know Allair will wait for you for as long as it takes, for he is your chosen mate, and the men of Tiellys always mate for life.

For as long as you can remember, you’ve loved the Starry Sea. You were but a nestling when you began to image sailing, the sharp hull of your shining ship cleaving the plasma waves, the errant particle sprays lashing your membranes as you fly upwards to trim the solar sails. No woman or man of Tiellys has yet learnt the length or breadth or depth of the Starry Sea, and you, with the light of the sea at night shimmering like mother’s milk in the refractions of your eyes, decided then and there that you would be the one to map and measure it.

Adolescence distracts you from your dream for a time. You fledge and discover your mate. You’ll never forget your first mating flight: You twisted and whirled and dived together, and in the end Allair carried you so far that you could hardly see the cliffs anymore. After that, you couldn’t image life without him. You still can’t.

Adulthood works to temper your ambitions. Some small ships ply the edges of the Starry Sea, and these may be sailed by one man, but the ships that made long voyages deep into those numinous waters are necessarily larger and more durable, requiring not an individual sailor but an entire crew. And you soon discover that most sailors – indeed like most Tiellyssee – will not leave sight of home. Lose Tiellyan, they say, and you too are lost.

Allair recites the received wisdom, and you do not blame him. He builds your nest; this is his prerogative. Even so, you cannot but image something different for yourself.

You lose count of the rotations which turn before your imagings have a chance of being painted. But eventually the chance arrives, and you seize it with every limb.

She is a beautiful craft, the _Skyflare_. You and the rest of the crew couldn’t be prouder. The scutes on your chest spread whenever you look upon her. She will carry you safely to the edges of the map and back – you’re completely confident of that.

The nest will be lonely without you, but Allair does not protest. You share a sweet mating flight right before to go, something to remember him by, to image when the waters of the Starry Sea are not sufficient to rock you to sleep. You tell him you’ll be returned so soon that he won’t even realise you’re gone, but you both know it is a lie. Still, the lie makes the truth easier to bear, and Allair does not cry as he bids you goodbye.

The Starry Sea is calm when you set out, and the voyage begins ideally, a thousand thousand times better than you would have imaged. You would never be able to number the wonders of those early cycles – the rainbow bridge across the covey deys, the song of the shinshen pods, the caryldids that swim faster in the vacuum than any Tiellyssee can fly, the marmuuks and the washabyns – ah, the list goes on and on and on! You gorge yourself on these wonders until you can’t image why your crop isn’t bursting full. In your more temperate moments, you paint your star charts, Tiellyssee records-in-progress of the length, breadth and depth of the waters upon which you sail.

Sometimes, you image Allair aboard beside you to share your joy.

The disaster, when it comes, comes swiftly. An ion storm tears through the fabric of the _Skyflare_ ’s solar sail. The extra sail stored deep inside the cargo hold, when unfurled, is yute-infested and riddled with holes. Alack and alas! It is unusable.

You are at the mercy of the currents without a sail, but most of the time, the ship doesn’t move at all. Unnavigable. Without a sail, you will never see the indigo cliffs of Tiellyan once more.

Sometimes, you image yourself in the nest with Allair like you’d never left him. Perhaps it would have been better if you never tried to chase your dreams upon the Starry Sea. The men of Tiellys always mate for life, and if Allair does not know if you are alive or if you are dead, he will assume you are still alive, and he will die alone. So will you, but somehow, that matters much less to you.

Allair, Allair, Allair! You image him calling out to you.

Niesh, Niesh, Niesh! Can he – does he – image you, too?

The molted skins of the caryldids provide an answer. They are lighter than air, and they seem to breathe in the starlight. You are the first to image the possibility. When cut into squares and quilted together, you tell the rest of the crew, they should make a passable solar sail.

You are right, and you all trill and shake with laughter and tears when the _Skyflare_ plies the Starry Sea anew. You pull out your sea charts from storage in triumph. You may not have learnt the length or breadth or depth of these waters, but you have recorded the way home.

You and the rest of the crew turn the hull towards home.

As soon as you see the indigo cliffs, you see him. His limbs are outspread, and he soars gracefully upon the methane thermals. He is watching the sky, waiting patiently for you to return to him, exactly as you imaged.

Your name is Niesh, and you are a sailor. Allair has indeed waited for you for as long as it takes, for he is your chosen mate, and the men of Tiellys always mate for life.


End file.
